India to offer site in Andhra to Russia for nuclear plant in Make-in-India push

NEW DELHI | Dec 21: India is expected to offer a site in Andhra Pradesh to set up units five and six of Kudankulam nuclear power plant by Russia in sync with broad principles of 'Make in India' initiative and a decision in this regard is likely to be finalised during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Moscow this week.

The two countries are likely to sign an agreement for the two units with provisions for involvement of India's private sector in the project including in supply of various components.

"We will follow principles of 'localisation' as per Make in India initiative for setting up Kudankulam nuclear power plant five and six," sources told PTI.

They said a site in Andhra Pradesh has been finalised for the project in line with government's policy for ensuring optimum use of the available nuclear sites in various states to accommodate more atomic reactors.

Incidentally, Centre has already shortlisted the Kovvada site to build a project with the assistance of US-based nuclear vendor, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy.

Modi is scheduled to visit Russia from December 23-24 to hold an annual summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Russia has been a key partner of India in the civil nuclear energy sector. In the last summit between Modi and Putin, it was decided that Russia will build at least 12 nuclear reactors in India by 2035.

In April last year, India and Russia had signed an agreement to build units 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam project at a cost of Rs 33,000 crore. However, work on the ground is yet to start. The units 3 and 4 are be coming up in Tamil Nadu's coastal district of Tirunelveli.

Earlier this month, Nikolai Spasskiy, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Rosatom - the Russian counterpart of the India's Department of Atomic Energy, visited India and he is believed have discussed with DAE brass about various aspect of the proposed pact for Kudankulam 5 and 6.

Units 5 and 6 of VVER technology are expected to be of the same MW like units 1-4, but the cost details of the project are yet to be finalised.

The government is constructing six reactors in new projects like Jaitapur (EPR 1000x6) in Maharashtra built with French technology, Kovadda in Andhra Pradesh (1000MW x 6) and Mithi Virdhi in Gujarat (1000MW x 6).